Bench Talk / Off The Wire

Fastball Season Commences

Damp conditions and ongoing dire predictions may be prevalent for the local fastball scene, but starting this week and running through the Spring and Summer, it looks very healthy to me.

The Grey Bruce Ladies Fastball League is off the mark first with their opening games set for tomorrow night at Desboro.

Desboro, Tara and Allenford have a regular rotation of Tuesday through Thursday for league games with scattered matches also scheduled for Port Elgin and Meaford.

The Grey Bruce Ladies Fastball League has 8 entries this year including a new club, the Leaky Canoe out of Meaford.

The 8 squads will play a schedule that runs into early August and then is followed by a month long playoff tournament format.

Meanwhile the Bluewater Fastball League will commence a week or so later, with the opening game between Chepstow and Saugeen set for May 25th.

Eight Men's teams around the region will compete through the season leading to the annual Championship Playoff Weekend which historically has been, and will be once again, hosted at the Chepstow Ball Park during the September 8-10th weekend.

Somewhere around 1988, I was told fastball is dying, but 8 ladies teams in the Grey Bruce League and another 8 men's teams in the Bluewater League beg to differ and will spend most of the next 4 months trying to claim their respective championships.